Occupy’s OT tab is $91,000

Nicholas Reed sets up a flag at Occupy Albany's encampment in November.

The State Police spent about $91,000 on overtime for troopers assigned to watch over Occupy Albany while the group camped out in parks across from the Capitol last fall, according to records obtained by the Times Union.

The records show troopers, some plucked from the Hudson Valley, spent a total of 1,262.9 hours of overtime keeping tabs on the protesters and making more than 100 arrests. Albany County District Attorney David Soares declined to prosecute the cases.

Albany County Republican Chairman Don Clarey told my colleague Jimmy Vielkind that Soares should pick up the $91K tab. Occupy Albany members said it was a waste of taxpayer money.

The Office of the State Comptroller said the average cost for an hour of overtime in the Division of State Police was $72.13, based on tallies from 2011. That works out to just over $91,000. Statewide, the State Police spent $15.9 million on overtime last year.

“Holy cow,” said Bradley Russell, 40, an anthropology professor who led protesters to tempt arrest in Lafayette Park. “As the vast majority of any arrests that came from any of our actions inside or outside the Capitol were dismissed, the entire police effort amounted to the governor trying to stifle our First Amendment rights, and that was clearly a massive waste of taxpayer dollars.”

Different people put blame in different places. Some conservatives point to the protesters — who could have held drum circles to their hearts’ content in Academy Park — for daring the police to arrest them. Others point to Soares’ decision not to prosecute.

“Soares is the root of the problem, because he refused to enforce the law he swore to uphold,” said Albany County Republican Chairman Don Clarey. “It was catch and release, so the State Police had to protect state property at the behest of the governor. The state should make David Soares pay the overtime.”

Soares’ office declined to comment, but he has partly explained his decision not to prosecute as one of cost savings: If protesters did not plead to the violations they were charged with, cases would take up a large portion of staff and court time.

Julie Santiago, a State Police spokeswoman, said troopers were just enforcing the law: “It’s a breach of the public peace. We are bound to enforce the law, no matter who likes it or not, and we did it during those protests.”